Evolution of LGBTQI Literature on Display at UH Libraries

A new exhibit at the University of Houston Libraries underscores the evolving themes of LGBTQI literature from the late nineteenth century to present day.

LGBTQI Literature: Celebrated Classics and Contemporary Works features works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama from UH Libraries Special Collections that were written by, and are focused on, people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex.

Exhibit selections are drawn from the Norma J. Lee Collection, the Edward Lukasek Gay Studies Collection, and the Library of Cynthia Macdonald.

VIDEO: Interview with Edward Lukasek on exhibit highlights.

“The books in this exhibit changed society and touched people’s lives,” said Julie Grob, coordinator of digital projects and instruction, and curator of the exhibit. “Many of them were groundbreaking, considered so shocking when first published that their authors or publishers were put on trial. Others played a role in expanding the new political and sexual freedoms of the seventies, and many express the diverse experiences of sexual preference, gender, race, ethnicity, and gender expression in contemporary society.”

Classic titles from the pre-Stonewall era include a second edition of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, and Orlando by Virginia Woolf. The 1970s gay liberation and women’s liberation movements are represented by works such as Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran and Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown. Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, and the poetry of Mark Doty and Thom Gunn, depict the AIDS crisis. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel represent modern voices in LGBTQI literature.

The exhibit runs from June 20 (to coincide with Houston Pride Week) through September 26, 2014 in the MD Anderson Library. For more information, contact Julie Grob, curator, at 713.743.9744.

Comments are closed.

Posted on June 12th, 2014 by Esmeralda Fisher and filed under Announcements | Comments Off on Evolution of LGBTQI Literature on Display at UH Libraries